Watching the Obama administration play out is in every way like a well written and intriguing film. On one side we have the masterful manipulation of the highs and lows of the right wing, who have wrested control of the Republican party and have miraculously used their domination of the media to convince people they are victimized by the media, who have conned dull witted Americans into believing the word entitlement has a negative connotation and who have launched all out class warfare against the American people, clearly targeting organized labor, public employees especially, any type of media not already under their control, public safety nets for the poor and/or elderly. On top of this they are clearly making an attempt to completely eradicate the middle class while all the time successfully convincing a sizable segment of the population that these policies are indeed to their benefit even as every obvious sign is that this is not true. An accurate description of what conservatives have accomplished; it is as if someone drives a bus off the road, while telling the passengers that its really all their fault for needing to ride the bus.
For those of us who are fans of history, and who are objective in judging our history, it is eerily reminiscent of what Democrats accomplished in the lead up to the civil war, convincing thousands to go to war against their own people to preserve slavery despite the fact that slavery had no benefit for them at all. Then like now, the very people being manipulated into supporting these policies will most likely wind up being their most profound victims.
And then, along comes a hero.With the brains and cunning of Wild Bill Clinton, without the moral baggage, Barack Hussein Obama strides onto the stage and the most improbable of plot twists takes place. America elects its first African American president who ran for office on a platform of bringing change to the nation. It was a stunning and emotional turn of events. The conservatives were energized to the point that policies that had been largely kept clandestine suddenly were fully revealed by those who believe that Americas legacy of racism would bring the desired people together under their leadership. Just as in the civil war, the specter of us against them could clearly be more powerful than the reality of the price the people would pay for goals so clearly designed to benefit the very few.
But wait, another plot twist, even though the element of racism is clearly present for some, overwhelmingly Americans are realizing that this is indeed a war over who will own and control America, the very rich or the rapidly disappearing American middle class. It is class warfare in every aspect of the term. This is because, armed with the understanding of what is really going on, Obama has refused to be victimized by the cunning efforts of the conservative mob.
Obama takes office as president with class and dignity and immediately begins to try to build working coalitions. Over and over, to the horror and disgust of many of those who voted to elect him, he works to build consensus and puts forth real solutions to Americas problems. But the conservative mob is focused, organized and well funded and fights back aggressively, accusing the president of promoting the very class warfare they have been quietly waging against Americans for years. Conservatives, backed by their understanding of history are convinced that the majority will most likely sit quietly by while a vocal minority dictates the future of the land.
Obama is down, every poll confirms it and the dream of change is clearly on the ropes.But miraculously, to everyone's amazement, he gets his reform of health care, however butchered and altered to pass, giving notice that he is indeed a formidable foe. But conservatives, doing what they do best convinces the people yet again that progress is actually failure and so the public does what conservatives hoped for and in their confusion elects a government that can only obstruct itself. But Obama will not stay down.
While the conservatives are busy celebrating the success of their ruse, Obama quietly orchestrates and leads the dismantling of Americas greatest foreign threat, finding and eliminating the leader of Al Qaeda and even now tracking down and destroying it wherever it attempts to revive it self. This is a stunning reversal of fortune and Obama's popularity soars again.
Slowly, painstakingly, conservatives work to convince the dim witted that Obama's victory was actually there's and could not have been done without them. In another amazing plot twist, the much maligned George Bush and Dick Cheney attempt to claim Obama's success as proving they were right, even though every documented fact shows that this is far from the truth. Clearly there is a measure of success from their efforts as Americans reeling from the fear of economic ruin turn away from Obama's great accomplishment, seeking answers to problems much closer to home.
Obama is down again, every poll confirms it and conservatives can hardly contain themselves. Some to the far right like Andrew Breitbart begin to openly encourage the idea that their momentum is so great the country can now simply be overthrown with the backing of conservatives with guns, invoking a truly surreal vision of Americas future. Some might say this is unrealistic, but history has shown over and over that this type of scenario happens and usually as a result of the type of political turmoil we see in America today. Conservatives again cling to the concept that if the radical right insists that all America needs to be restored to greatness is for the power to be put back in the hands of the right group of people, wealthy, white, male and they are allowed to roll back all vestiges of diversity, God will be pleased and the land will be blessed. History shows that even among those who reject this idea, many can't help hoping that maybe conservatives are right and it could be that simple.
But Obama won't stay down and in the most amazing plot twist yet, Obama comes forward with a dramatic plan, continuing to push the only ides that could work to reduce the nations deficit and restore it to solvency, only now the pragmatic diplomat has given way to the forceful warrior. Understanding that timing is everything, he recognizes that now is the time to take the fight to the people. Force them to educate themselves about the issues and to understand that throughout America's history, from the post revolutionary war economic disaster to today, raising revenues is the only method that has ever worked to pay off debt created by war and general malfeasance. In an a now tired and worn effort conservatives act as expected and howl with derision as they invoke the fear of class warfare, but could it be that America may finally be getting it? One of the things I most admired about Bill Clinton was his understanding that people without integrity will always eventually reveal themselves, after all that is what they really desire most. Will America finally see that class warfare is what we have been in for a long time?
I can hardly wait for the next episode.
